my first upgrade was a racing beat rear sway bar. immediately i felt a difference in steering inputs and less understeer. last saturday i got h-techs installed but now my car feels foreign to me. i dont get the same response when i sway left to right really fast, or at least the response doesnt feel like it did with just the rear sway. is this because of less body roll? however, there is a mountain pass i enjoy driving which i used to take at around 40-50 mph. yesterday i was chasing my brothers wrx, not really pushing, but when i looked at the speedometer it read 65 mph. do the springs take away from the effectiveness of the rear sway bar? or am i perceiving the new ease of cornering as a loss of siffness?
1 - 8 of 8 Posts
The springs compress less with the Htechs so the sway bar is doing less work. The sway bar compensates for really soft spring rates so you feel it more. Put in stiffer springs and it has to do less work to accomplish the same job, at the same time you can push the car even farther than before.
Unsure if this would be "adding" to Hexedit, but with a drop, it's a good chance your rear camber has gone even more negative.
i do notice more negative camber, but it doesnt seem to be a problem. plus doesnt a little negative camber improve cornering? i read in another thread that after getting an alignment the upgraded suspension became more apparent. i havent gotten an alignment yet, but when i do, do you think i will feel a similar difference?
A friend of mine got an alignment done when he had his camber kit installed. In his 3, they gave him an alignment geared towards autoX. His camber in the back is near 0.
Joined
·
9,467 Posts
[quote author=boardumb link=topic=71957.msg1266552#msg1266552 date=1173858890]
A friend of mine got an alignment done when he had his camber kit installed. In his 3, they gave him an alignment geared towards autoX. His camber in the back is near 0.
[/quote]
That doesn't sound like a decent camber for auto x to me. I had my camber in my old saturn set to -1.5 front and -1 rear on a car with a fairly similar weight distribution (and the handling balance was resonably close as well)...you want some negative camber, you just don't want to go overboard with it.
-Matt
A friend of mine got an alignment done when he had his camber kit installed. In his 3, they gave him an alignment geared towards autoX. His camber in the back is near 0.
[/quote]
That doesn't sound like a decent camber for auto x to me. I had my camber in my old saturn set to -1.5 front and -1 rear on a car with a fairly similar weight distribution (and the handling balance was resonably close as well)...you want some negative camber, you just don't want to go overboard with it.
-Matt
yea I suppose I wasn't very good with my explaination, it was late when i wrote it. Basically the sway bar provides resistance when the spring compresses so that the springs compress evenly on the left and right side of the car, thereby reducing body roll. If the springs are stiffer then the sway bar provides less resistance because the spring is absorbing more energy.
that makes sense Hexedit, thanks! i feel like i shouldve gone springs, shocks, sway bar. instead of sway bar, springs, and then shocks. either way, im enjoying the handling. i plan on doing some autocross so im sure the sway bar will become useful when i start pushing the car harder.
1 - 8 of 8 Posts
- This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Mazda3 Forums
A forum community dedicated to Mazda 3 and all Mazda vehicle owners and enthusiasts. Come join the discussion about MazdaSpeed performance, modifications, classifieds, troubleshooting, maintenance, and more!
Full Forum Listing
Explore Our Forums
Join now to ask and comment!
